I was just online looking for some good Astro Boy shots myself to study off of.

Lots of my favourite Japanese art is the stuff we rarely see here. It's all the little local signs and package art everywhere that I love. I'm moving back to Osaka soon and would love sending you any insane stuff I find.

Thanks again for this amazing source of information you're providing us, John.

But, John, the thing is everyone has it all wrong. "Anime" is not a style. The Japanese pronounce animation, "ah nee may shone"—"ah nee may" for short. Japanese like to shorten long words, especially foreign words. So all "anime" means in Japan is "animation". Sure, there is a style that non-Japanese see when thinking of Japanese animation, but Ren & Stimpy is considered anime in Japan.

It's the same with the word manga. Manga is not a style; it just means "comic".

So in Japan, if you say, "I don't think I'm cut out to be an anime artist", that is the same as saying that you're not cut out to be an animation artist.

I understand everyone in America views anime as a style, but, John, you ARE an anime artist. A great one, in fact.

Great drawings! But you may be right John - the expressions on your characters are far too specific for the bulk of generic (and a bit boring) anime that gets produced. Although I'm quite selective when it comes to anime - when it's good, it's very very good. Personally I love Studio Ghibli stuff, those movies are actually about something. Also check out Genius Party, Mindgame and Dead Leaves. I have a feeling you may really enjoy watching Dead Leaves.

Woah , John.I love the looks of that.Astro Boy was ment to be a toon! hehe.you should definitely use him in one of ur animation some time, like you did with Donald Duck.If you don't get sued for it, that is.

Astro Boy had a cement construction theory going, as if the characters were cast in concrete, moving in space. It made all of them look overdue for a killer crap, which still passes for charm depending on earth geography.

Those are cool but you toned down Elefun/Ochanomizu a little. I'm a big Astroboy fan and one of the biggest disappointments for me is how bad they made him look in this new movie. It gives Astroboy a bad name.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9syiM94rOA : Here's a clip of how he looked in the cartoon.

Is there any appealing design in anime outside of early quasi-Disney stuff like Astro Boy in your opinion? I used to watch 80s animated sitcoms created by Rumiko Takahasi (Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura) because their poses were really lively and I thought her human characters were drawn funny.

Like the way he stretches out... Its mostly just his arms... What if his whole body could stretch... with his feet on the ground, but his body stretching hundreds of feet upwards and changing scale...Perhaps to battle a giant metallic hawk from another planet...

Man, I'd much rather see an Astro Boy movie with designs like these, than the one they're doing. Anime baffles me in that alot of those artists are very technically skilled and creative, but somehow become retarded when it comes to drawing faces. Like the eyes are just asburd, and they seem to just wish that the human nose didnt exist at all.

Anime baffles me in that alot of those artists are very technically skilled and creative, but somehow become retarded when it comes to drawing faces. Like the eyes are just asburd, and they seem to just wish that the human nose didnt exist at all.

The answer is that they're not very technically skilled. The number of anime artists without very basic anatomy errors is a tiny handful. All anime is is a way of hiding your flaws. That's why the best anime artists use hardly any of the cliches and the worst artists use them obsessively. (Like the deviantART horrors where the eyes literally take up 80% of the face.)

The last ones really remind me of Spike Milligan drawings for some reason. :)

Wrote a long and informative rebuttal to all the predictable, misinformed, visually-illiterate 'wah wah urgh anime style big eyes LOL' rubbish in these threads but I just deleted it because who cares. The Japanese certainly don't, so why should I?

Far from it. I could write a loooooong article about this, but for example, anime eyes are drawn because their attempts at realistic eyes would be vague and crude, (to them; to me, they may not be vague, but they're certainly crude) noses aren't drawn because artists with no skill can't draw noses, (they're easy if you've spent a little time learning, hell if you haven't) and various blobs, lines, etc. are drawn for mouths because they don't understand the intricate subtleties of real mouths.

In fact, many of the "stylistic elements" of anime are mistakes that bad artists already make.

My loooooong article would have lots of arguments and other points, but that's the gist of it.

Wrote a long and informative rebuttal to all the predictable, misinformed, visually-illiterate 'wah wah urgh anime style big eyes LOL' rubbish in these threads but I just deleted it because who cares.

How interesting that you decide that anyone who does not like anime is totally ignorant of anime and everything. Or rather, not interesting, as it's a common trick and it's so very tiresome now.

Yes, I do know plenty about anime and yes, I have heard of Mind Game. And really, if you have to imagine that anyone who disagrees with you is a bumbling idiot, how good can your position really be?

Hey Guy, thanks for the reply I guess but I wasn't talking to/about you, you have made incorrect assumptions about my opinions of other people's opinions, and the rest of the stuff you are saying is just pretty much wrong. THANKS ANYWAY.

You included on the topic The first anime I was aware of, references from the anime Gigantor (TCJ/Eiken, 1963)! I remember very much of this anime which you refered on that topic. Gigantor was aired here in Brazil in the early 70s. Here in Brazil, this anime was known as O Homem de Aço, and the overture of this same anime, when was aired here in Brazil, was presented with the title in Spanish (El Hombre de Acero). It aired here in Brazil, between 1970 and 1976.

Honestly I don't mind Anime its just that it seems the only reason kids want to go into animation these days is because of Anime. Seriously try studying other forms of art and built upon that otherwise I would highly doubt your a serious artist. Honestly I don't get why CAL Arts accepts portfolios based on animations of their favorite manga characters.

Actually Guy, the reason the type of look is used a lot is because it's a popular style that sells a lot over there. There have been ton of anime that used more polished and traditional looking designs but they don't sell as much over there so designers and artists choose the safe route. So don't blame the artists, blame the market.

Studio Ghibli movies have fantastic well drawn designs that meshes Western design with some little anime traits.